Hey all,
I'm sure there is something like this out there and I would buy one if I could find it.

Everyone has seen a tripod, some have seen a "unipod" which is just a single pole to use as a camera mount. Surely one could make one of these.

Has anyone seen something similar?

Does any of this rambling make sense? :-)

They make hiking poles you can use as a "unipod" for a rifle wouldnt be to hard to make your own.... put a stud on the bottom that screws into your camera, then make a cap to screw over the stud when its being used as a "hiking pole"

The male dino has a wooden hiking staff / unipod. He cut the head off a machined screw that fits his camara and screwed it into a predrilled hole on the top of his stick. He put 'liquid weld' in the hole just before installing to keep the screw from working loose.

Check this out and see if it suits your need.

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=9296

Check this out and see if it suits your need.

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=9296

I have one, never used it for uni-pod, but it is sturdy, and easy to convert from walking stick to uni-pod by removing the knob on top.

I did feel the small tip was too small, so added a cane tip & now it is more usable/stable. Mine has been confiscated by youngest son since I got the pair of ski poles & use them instead.

Doctari.

UM, looked closer at picture in campmor, I see they have added the larger tip as I did. So, nevermind.

Hey all,
I'm sure there is something like this out there and I would buy one if I could find it.
Everyone has seen a tripod, some have seen a "unipod" which is just a single pole to use as a camera mount. Surely one could make one of these.
Has anyone seen something similar?
Does any of this rambling make sense? :-)
Select or find a thin sapling an inch in diameter or less. Mine weighs about 9 ounces. Let it dry for a week or two in a warm sunny place inside.

Buy a 1/4-20 hex head screw and a couple of extra hex head nuts. Put the nuts on the screw, leaving about 3/8ths of an inch of screw threads sticking out.

Drill a 7/16th inch diameter hole in the end of the wooden pole. deep enough so that only the threads stick out when the screw and extra nuts are inserted.

Once you are sure everything fits properly apply a good quality epoxy glue to the hole, insert the screw and extra nuts, wait a few minutes and you have a monopod.

For use as a hiking stick, I use a round, wooden, furniture draw pull to cover the exposed screw threads. Just drill a 7/16th hole in the draw pull and epoxy in a couple of nuts. To ensure everything lines up, it's best to again use a 1/4-20 screw. After the glue sets, back out the screw.

You can skip the extra nuts if you wish, but I find they give the glue more to hold on to and thus the rig is less apt to loosen.

Weary

You can also give give your hiking staff more traction. Here's what I did:

-Buy an arrowhead insert at your local outfitter(Wal-mart usually has them as well) and some "field points" or target heads for arrows.
-Drill a 1/4" diameter hole in the bottom of your staff and epoxy the threaded insert in the hole. Take care to keep the female threads free of glue.
-after it dries, screw in a field point(use Loctite to keep it from vibrating loose).
-When the field point wears down too far to be effective just replace it with another one. Works great!

I'm partial to Wood hiking staffs myself these days. I'm looking hard at Kingfisher Woodworks Hickory Hiking Staff. Expensive, handmade from a selected grade of Hickory. The tungsten tip is much more gentle than the Leki type.

Kingfisher's general specialty is martial arts training weapons, the world's best bokken (wooden swords), jo, bo, hanbo, etc. training tools that have to take a vicious beating on a day-to-day basis. So they know how to make hard wearing staves. They don't offer a camera mount, but you could easily take the end off and build a custom mount for it.

anybody tried bamboo? wondering if it worth the effort of finding bamboo

anybody tried bamboo? wondering if it worth the effort of finding bamboo

Definitely worth the effort. I have several that I hike with from time to time. Very light. They also make excellent jang bongs.

Rattan is more durable and stable. Bamboo gets pretty splintery as it dries out. It also doesn't have too much real strength across the grain, though it's fine along the length. Green bamboo is pretty good, but it doesn't stay green long once it is cut.

Rattan is more durable and stable. Bamboo gets pretty splintery as it dries out. It also doesn't have too much real strength across the grain, though it's fine along the length. Green bamboo is pretty good, but it doesn't stay green long once it is cut.

Splintered bamboo makes a jang bong look more dangerous. Leaves a nasty welt, too. :D

Here's one that i have:
http://mayor98.safeshopper.com/46/cat46.htm?869
It looks like a collapseble hiking pole and you just pull off the handle and there is a camera mount inside. a bit pricey though. I only need it for video, i've found that i don't need one for stills. If i really want one, i just use the timer and place the camera (with rocks or whatever) in the proper position. anyway, have fun and good luck.

My hiking buddy carries the camera on our hikes. He made a adapter for the top of his hiking poles. He drilled a hole in the top of the handle and tapped it to the same size as the camera mounting bolt. He then got a short section of all-thread about an inch long. Placed nut in the middle of the all-thread and locked it in place with some lock tight.
The all-thread in screwed into his camera and then the all-thread in screwed into the top hole in the pole. If the ground is soft just stick the pole into the ground to hold it. Hard ground just add more poles to stand it up.